Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She felt like a fool.Again. “You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m sorry. I’m just...after what happened, I’m not...not myself.” She started to turn away, but Jonah caught her shoulders. His eyes locked with hers and she couldn’t look away.
“Don’t be sorry,” he said. “You’re more than a job to me. I tried not to let it get personal, but it is. When this is over...” He drew her against him, his hand sliding into her hair, tipping her head back to hold her in place while his mouth came down over hers.
Everything inside her went still. Jonah deepened the kiss and heat surged through her, floated out through her limbs. April clutched his shoulders. Bands of muscle tightened in response, and dampness settled in her core. April moaned and Jonah growled low in his throat.
The kiss went on and on, wet and hot and so intense her knees nearly buckled beneath her. His chest felt like steel where the hard muscles rubbed against the peaks of her breasts through her lacy black bra. She could feel his erection against her belly.
It was Jonah who broke the kiss—long before she wanted him to.
“I want you, April,” he said gruffly. “When this is over, we’ll start where we left off, explore this thing between us.” His hand came up to her cheek. He brushed a last soft kiss on her lips. “In the meantime, you need to get some sleep.”
Gently, he pushed her toward the hall. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Her lips tingled. She forced herself to back away. She knew better than to get involved with a dangerous man like Jonah Wolfe. Knew the consequences, the heartache. And yet part of her was willing to risk the danger, eager to fan the fire that burned in his eyes.
“Good night.” Turning, April headed down the hall to her bedroom. Though her body still tingled with arousal, she was exhausted. And still frightened. Someone had tried to kill her.
Still, as she pulled on a short nylon nightgown and slid beneath the covers, she wasn’t thinking of speeding cars and her close brush with death. She was thinking of the hottest kiss she had ever tasted.
She was thinking of Jonah Wolfe.
JONAHHEARDTHEknock at the front door the next morning. He walked over and checked the peephole, saw Chase Garrett, his boss and one of his closest friends, standing outside on the porch. Jonah opened the door.
“I got your message,” Chase said as he stepped into the condo. “I’d already heard about the hit-and-run.”
“Word travels fast.”
“Maddox always has an ear to the pavement. What can I do to help?” Chase was as tall as Jonah, at thirty-five, three years older, with dark blond hair and whiskey-brown eyes. A short-cropped beard ran along his jaw. Chase was good-looking—and rich as Croesus. And he didn’t give a damn about either of those things.
All Chase had ever cared about was law enforcement, first as a cop, then a detective, now as the owner of the top private security firm in Dallas.
“I could use a little feedback. Thought maybe we could brainstorm, figure out where this might be headed.” He hadn’t wanted to leave April alone or he would have just gone down to the office. “You want some coffee? I just made a pot.”
“Sounds good.”
Jonah led Chase into April’s sparkling white kitchen and poured each of them a mug of the French roast he had found in the cupboard and brewed. They filled their mugs and carried them over to the high, round white Formica-topped table and each sat down on a stool.
“Your client still asleep?” Chased asked.
Client. Sometime during the seconds between life and death, April had become more to him than just a client. Maybe that was the reason he had kissed her. Or maybe he just couldn’t resist temptation any longer. Whatever the reason, he meant to keep her safe.
“She’s asleep. She didn’t get much rest last night. I heard her moving around pretty late.”
Chase sipped his coffee. “Nothing new on the hit-and-run?”
“No, and I don’t think there will be. No plate number, not even a decent vehicle description.”
“No way to prove what happened had anything to do with the murder.”
“No.”
“But you’re convinced it’s connected. What’s the motivation?”
“Whoever killed Dean wanted April to roll over, just let things play out. Dean would be dead and the case would be closed.”
“But April wouldn’t go along with it.”
“That’s right. I have a hunch they figured if she was out of the picture, the whole thing would just go away.”
